Nearly a year later, guardsmen are welcomed home

Spc. Anthony Castellon is delighted to hold his baby girl, Sophia, after his return home from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan. Nearly 100 soldiers with the California National Guard Long Beach unit flew into the Joint Forces Training Base at Los Alamitos, where family members awaited their return. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

LOS ALAMITOS – It had been 338 days since Maritza Nieves of Whittier and her two sons had seen her husband and their father, Staff Sgt. Eric Nieves.

Nieves had been counting the days on her phone since her husband left for training, and eventually Afghanistan, last summer.

On Tuesday night, the countdown was over for Nieves and about 200 other military family members awaiting their loved ones.

“We’ll have another babysitter at home and financially have help,” Nieves said. “Words cannot describe what this means.”

Nearly 100 soldiers with the California Army National Guard’s 216th Engineer Mobility Augmentation Company of Long Beach landed at the Army Airfield within the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos after spending nearly nine months in the Ghazni Province of Afghanistan.

More than 200 family members stood on the airfield, some of them wearing patriotic T-shirts and holding signs, balloons and American flags to celebrate their spouses, children, siblings and loved ones as they walked out of an airplane into a cheering crowd accompanied by color guard members and a live military band.

The National Guardsmen left for Texas to begin training last June and have been stationed in the Ghazni Province since September with a focus on searching for improvised explosive devices to maintaining roadways in and around the province, said Lt. Col. John Klinkam of the 578th Engineer Battalion.

During their tour, he said the unit had a nearly 90 percent success rate of finding and destroying the devices, with four National Guardsmen wounded in action and none killed.

“I have heard that they were one of the most successful units,” Klinkam said.

President Barack Obama announced last week plans to reduce troop presence in Afghanistan to 9,800 by the end of the year and pull out the rest by the end of 2016.

Capt. Kris Bachmann, master of ceremonies at the event, said the 216th completed “one of the last combat missions the California National Guard would be performing.” Bachmann said the peacetime role of the unit would mainly be in emergency response.

When Eric Nieves left last June, his youngest son was 6 months old. Now, his boys are 2 and 6 years old. Eric Nieves said that while he knows what to expect for each deployment, it is always difficult to leave his family.

“He’s talking and walking,” Eric Nieves said of his youngest son. “It’s sad that I missed those stages, but it’s a good feeling being home now.”

Maritza Nieves said it was her husband’s fourth deployment and the second one for their family to go through.

“It took me by surprise because I was pregnant with our little one when I found out (about his deployment),” Maritza Nieves said. “I was devastated, but I understand it is his job, and he needs my support so he can accomplish that job.”

Spc. Anthony Castellon is delighted to hold his baby girl, Sophia, after his return home from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan. Nearly 100 soldiers with the California National Guard Long Beach unit flew into the Joint Forces Training Base at Los Alamitos, where family members awaited their return. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Spc.Anthony Castellon is delighted to hold his baby girl, Sophia, after his return home from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan. Nearly 100 soldiers with the California National Guard Long Beach unit flew into the Joint Forces Training Base at Los Alamitos, where family members awaited their return. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
National Guard Sgt. Ignacio Jimenez embraces his children, Noah, left, and Marcos after returning from a nearly nine-month deployment in the Ghazni province in Afghanistan. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Sgt. Ignacio Jimenez embraces his children, Alyssa, and Marcos, after his return home from Afghanistan on Tuesday night. Nearly 100 soldiers with the Long Beach-based National Guard were welcomed home by family and friends at Los Alamitos. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
National Guard Spc. Chris Castanon embraces his mother Tuesday night after returning home from a nearly nine-month deployment in Afghanistan. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
While in Afghanistan, the California Army National Guard's 216th Engineer Mobility Augmentation Company of Long Beach focused on searching for improvised explosive devices and had a nearly 90 percent success rate of finding and destroying them. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Staff Sgt. Eric Nieves embraces his wife, Maritza, after arriving in Los Alamitos following a deployment that lasted nearly a year. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Family members of Spc. Chris Castanon await his arrival from Afghanistan on Tuesday at Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Family members of Spc. Chris Castanon await his arrival from Afghanistan at the Joint Forces Training Base at Los Alamitos on Tuesday night. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Maritza Nieves awaits the return of her husband, National Guard Staff Sgt. Eric Nieves, at the Joint Forces Training Base at Los Alamitos. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Sgt. Ignacio Jimenez is showered with kisses from his wife, Donna, after his return to Southern California from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan as a member of the National Guard. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Nearly 100 members of the California National Guard Long Beach unit return home Tuesday night. ROSE PALMISANO , CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Spc. Anthony Castellon hold his baby girl, Sophia, after his return home from a nearly nine-month deployment to Afghanistan. Nearly 100 members of the California National Guard Long Beach returned home Tuesday night. ROSE PALMISANO, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

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